DuckTales for the NES is one of those legendary games you hear people refer back to when they talk about the days where cartoon-licensed video games weren’t of dubious quality. Me, I grew up not really “getting” the game. DuckTales was obviously from a different era; an era in which you had to fend for yourself with games and actually read the instruction manual to understand anything about what to do. I had come years after this era. To the untrained eye, DuckTales looks like just another action game, but its distinct emphasis on non-linear exploration left me bewildered. The game seemed arbitrary and confusing; I would aimlessly wander around levels until eventually stumbling on a boss encounter and then be dumped back at a level select menu. It didn’t make any sense. What was the point of it all? What was my overarching goal? There didn’t seem to be one. It wasn’t until I watched somebody guide me through DuckTales within the last couple years that the game finally clicked with me. The door opened, and suddenly, yes: DuckTales was awesome.

Scrooge seems to employ some giant people – look at the size of those doors!

When WayForward announced DuckTales Remastered, alarm bells immediately began going off. Pre-release media suggested that the game was going to receive massive changes: though they never outright said it, a making-of documentary seemed to imply that the game had been dumbed down and streamlined in to the same kind of linear action game I originally assumed it to be so many years ago. To make matters worse, teasers suggested an inordinately large amount of spoken dialog – video from conventions made it to look as if you were being stopped every few feet for Scrooge to banter on with Launchpad or his nephews for extended amounts of time, completely destroying the flow of the game. It seemed as though DuckTales Remastered was becoming something that definitely was not the DuckTales NES we knew and loved.

I’m happy to report that almost every single fear of mine turned out to be completely unfounded, and DuckTales Remastered even goes a long way to improving the original game. It’s actually kind of impressive how WayForward zeroed in on exactly what I originally found confusing about the NES version: the general lack of goal. The original game was mainly about exploring an area to collect money, and once you were bored with that, you could fight a boss encounter and move on to the different level. But there was nothing really stopping you from just amassing infinite wealth, by accident or otherwise. Levels were often built so that they constantly looped back in on themselves, almost like a Metroid game. It was easy to get lost and even easier to not know what you were even supposed to do in these areas.

If you have fond memories of the cartoon, you’re in for a treat.

Remastered corrects this by slotting a little bit of extra narrative in to the game. A brisk (and new) tutorial level in Scrooge’s money bin reveals a treasure map, leading Scrooge to travel the world in search of riches. From there, each of the game’s five levels play out almost like a miniature episode of the DuckTales Saturday Morning Cartoon, complete with fully-voiced dialog by most of the show’s original cast. While I was fully prepared to be completely annoyed by their constant nattering, the moment I heard the original voices for the Beagle Boys all of that faded away as I lost myself in uncontrollable nostalgia. Most of the actors nail their performances as if they’d never left, though some, like Scrooge McDuck and Magica De Spell, are definitely showing their ages a bit – the actors for are both more than 90 years old at this point, and while they do an admirable job, they sometimes lack the pep they once had back in the 1980’s. That’s not so much a complaint as it is an observation, however.

The twist is that the added narrative finally gives levels a much needed objective. Everything’s still structured as such that you’re still largely left to explore stages at your own pace, but now you’re exploring them with a real purpose, as opposed to being left to aimlessly wander. WayForward even obliges with a map screen so you can keep track of where you’ve already been. How much plot each stage has varies depending on locale; the opening to The Amazon stops you seemingly ever few steps as Scrooge uncovers 8 gold coins used to open up the second half of the stage, while The African Mines level is largely plot-free, outside the brief intro and boss scenes. On the bright side, if the new cutscenes bother you, there’s always the option to skip them from the pause menu.

Wayforward are still masters of 2D artwork. Seeing these backgrounds in motion are a sight to behold.

So then I guess the question comes down to this: does DuckTales still hold up? As somebody who did not know how to really enjoy the game until a couple years ago, I’d say yes. Does DuckTales Remastered do the original game justice? For the most part, that’s also a yes. WayForward took a classic NES game and modernized it in the best way possible, while still retaining that specific “DuckTales” feel in the controls and music. The only question I cannot answer is what this does for you if you’re either too old or too young to have seen much of the DuckTales cartoon in its prime. But I suppose that was the thing: people loved the original DuckTales because it transcended merely being a licensed game and was legitimately enjoyable on its own merits. Of course, with the extra storyline hooks in Remastered, it now matters a little more to have an understanding of who these characters are and how they interact with one another, though probably not enough that it would ruin your enjoyment of the game if you weren’t familiar with things.

If there was one major downside to DuckTales Remastered it would be the length, but I even hesitate to call that a negative. Fans of the original NES game will know that even casual playthroughs can usually take less than an hour, and while Remastered is most definitely a lot longer than that, it’s still the kind of game you can finish in a single sitting. Upon checking my gameplay stats after beating the game, my completion time read just shy of three hours. There’s nothing wrong with short games, but its $15 price tag feels just a little bit too expensive. I guess I also ran in to a few tech problems while playing the PC version, too – on my system, the game has a habit of crashing after every level I beat (thankfully, I never lost any progress). Presumably that won’t be an issue in the future – WayForward is already soliciting feedback in the official Steam forums in an effort to track down and squash bugs like these.

If DuckTales Remastered were $10, I wouldn’t have any trouble recommending it to anyone and everyone. Unfortunately, at $15, I’m a little more inclined to recommend this to fans of the original DuckTales cartoon – if only because I found myself so overwhelmed by nostalgia while playing Remastered that I have difficulty rationalizing what it must be like not to overtly love these characters and their continued adventures. The Disney Afternoon was my childhood, and as a result, I came away from this game with a big dumb grin on my face. And really, that’s just about the best outcome you could hope for.

32 Comments

I was just asking about this game in my previous post and here you are with a review. You’re the greatest Mr. B!
Seriously you had me completely sold on the game until you mentioned the price point and the game length, now I’m a little cautious.
Even $10 is a little steep for me if I’m only getting roughly 3-4 hours of gameplay out of it but $15 is really pushing it. It’s actually kinda ticking me off how many xbla/psn titles are going this steep these days as the price puts me off many I’d buy on impulse if cheaper.

I think I’ll wait a little while before jumping into this one, at least to see if the Xbla version compares any differently. (Free avatar awards, icons, etc)

energonaddict

Posted August 17, 2013 at 5:01 AM

Words cannot describe how amazing it is to hear the bantering between Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad once again.
It needs to be mentioned that actual Disney animators worked on this too.
Not since Mickey Mania/ Mickey’s Wild Adventure have I felt like I’m actually playing a Disney game that understands it’s roots in visual and audio entertainment.
After seeing this and the 2 new rayman installments it makes me wish for a hand drawn sonic platformer in the styles of Naoto Oshima

-THAT- would be incredible! Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations was a perfect example of Oshima’s Sonic in 3D but in a hand drawn style, it could be a thing of beauty!

DAMN

Posted August 17, 2013 at 7:40 AM

Visually? Yes(though a bit too cutesy)
Gameplay wise hell nawwwwwww
We would have to have Naka and most importantly Yasuhara for that

And am not impressed with how Ducktales Remastered looks…they make them look like flash animation

Globox

Posted August 17, 2013 at 5:33 AM

Fans of the original NES game will know that even casual playthroughs can usually take less than 15 minutes.

Ryan Bloom

Posted August 17, 2013 at 5:53 AM

An earlier draft of the review did say “about 20 minutes”, but I figured that might be a bit of an exaggeration.

SegaZone

Posted August 17, 2013 at 3:28 PM

Actually 30.

Anonymouse

Posted August 17, 2013 at 6:35 AM

As someone who never played the original NES game nor watched the cartoon outside seeing the intro online a few years back, I was completely blown away by the game and believe it’s price point is fully justified by just how much it has to offer. Including all of the unlockable items such as concept art from both the game and the TV show on display, the option to choose the NES music (as hard as it is to change from the new music, still worth a playthrough with this), the Expert difficulty (which I’ve attempted to do and Game Over’d by being dumb on -Amazon-) and even the newly sung version of the cartoon theme for the credits… this game. It’s just -too- good.

DuckTales 2 Remastered, please. Milk that last game and the remastering option for all it’s worth!

DAMN

Posted August 17, 2013 at 7:42 AM

You never watched Ducktales? I feel sorry for your childhood

Anonymouse

Posted August 17, 2013 at 9:05 AM

Yeah, I missed out on basically every Disney cartoon thing (aka, not movies) minus a video of Mickey’s Greatest Hits. Was too wrapped up in the likes of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Fox Kids, so I have more fond memories of the likes of Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, the Donkey Kong Country TV show and the Sam & Max cartoon.

Did they used to show The Mask Animated Series on Cartoon Network a lot? Man I miss that old show… Cow and Chicken, Courage the cowardly dog… some shows just don’t last nearly as long as they deserve. (Though Courage might still be going… I dunno, I started growing out of watching cartoons around the time of it’s 1st season… except for the classic looney tunes cartoons of course, YOU NEVER GROW OUT OF THE CLASSIC LOONEY TUNES!!)

Anonymouse

Posted August 17, 2013 at 8:59 PM

Pretty sure The Mask cartoon aired on Fox Kids! Since it was one of ‘those’ crazy shows alongside the likes of the Sam & Max which cartoon, which rocked totally different tones from what Cartoon Network would show. And nope, Courage isn’t ongoing; none of the original Cartoon Network classics are. All dead.

A moment of silence for our childhoo- OH HEY NEW GRAVITY FALLS

FTA

Posted August 17, 2013 at 12:47 PM

It’s great to read reviews on non-Sonic games on this Sonic news site.

Oh wait, no it’s not.

A

Posted August 17, 2013 at 1:24 PM

Look at the site’s subtitle. “Beyond Blue”.

Ryan Bloom

Posted August 17, 2013 at 6:02 PM

I’m sorry to hear this, but I’m not stopping. As I will always remind people, the first review I wrote for TSSZ was for GTA4 – at Tristan’s request. Sonic games come once every year or two – there’s a lot of stuff in between that.

Don’t like it? Nobody’s twisting your arm to read it. You could’ve seen the news header and skipped right past it if you did not think it was relevant to your interests.

I advise you to sit down and shut up, because complaining isn’t really worth it. Especially considering the type of video content I’m planning.

Personally, I come to TSSZ for all of my gaming news. Since you guy’s cover more than just Sonic or Sega related news it almost feels pointless going anywhere else, which is more than convenient as I don’t have to stress about looking on multiple sites for topics that interest me.
Keep up the awesome work I say! And my thumbs up to you and all the staff here!

(That wasn’t sarcasm btw, I genuinely thought this was a 4 people run website)

Louis Balzani

Posted August 17, 2013 at 7:57 PM

Our slogan’s “Beyond Blue” for a reason. If you don’t want to read the non-Sonic content, just bypass it.

Tenko

Posted August 17, 2013 at 3:52 PM

I understand why you got the PC version, dunno bout other countries but in mine the PSN version is $10 more expensive than the Steam version. For no reason. Just because >.<

Ryan Bloom

Posted August 17, 2013 at 6:39 PM

The plan was to get the Xbox Live Arcade version, but because of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion, that version won’t be out until the middle of September.

Nick

Posted August 18, 2013 at 3:40 PM

Oh, is THAT why?

Well, I got the Wii U version. Yeah, you can suck on THAT, Microsoft!!

espioisclearlyreadytogo

Posted August 17, 2013 at 5:01 PM

i was planning to get this on release day, but when i saw the 15 dollar price, i decided not to. now after reading this review, i’m conflicted. heck, i paied 15 bucks for sonic 4 ep1 and 2. why cant i justify ducktales?

Lucas Hinz

Posted August 17, 2013 at 7:43 PM

I love this review, but i disagre with one point cited: “If DuckTales Remastered were $10, I wouldn’t have any trouble recommending it to anyone and everyone. Unfortunately, at $15, I’m a little more inclined to recommend this to fans of the original DuckTales cartoon”.
The game is not only a pure remake, DuckTales Remastered has a new and special final stage representing the good “hardcore” feeling.

This game is definitely worth the $15, don’t let the price scare you. It’s certainly taking me longer than 3 hours to complete, too. I’d say total time will end up being about 15-20.

Strike Carson

Posted August 18, 2013 at 8:42 PM

I’m happy to hear that so many sites are praising this game. I never played the original, but I was a fan of the show. Heck, I even watched DuckTales The Movie. (Yes, they did make a feature length film based on the show, and it was awesome from what I recall.) And hearing that the original actors, all of them, are reprising their roles puts a smile on my face. Course, I already saw a review from ScrewAttack, which was also a positive review. My girlfriend recently bought the PC version for herself and her mother. (Believe it or not, her mom was an expert with the original, so she should have lots of fun with this one.) But yeah, I remember a lot of shows from that time, though I do kind of regret not being older for the original Transformers. Man, that would have been something to experience for myself. But at the same time, I’m not jealous as I experienced things older people didn’t experience like I did, and the younger ones won’t experience them the same way either. Thankfully, the entirety of DuckTales is on DVD, so anyone with fond memories of that show can share it with their kids, in addition to this. Heck, you guys who have kids, the game is a great way to show them what your childhood was like, and give them some interest in the actual series. (It still stands even twenty years later. Time has been kind to DuckTales.)

Strike Carson

Posted August 18, 2013 at 8:46 PM

Ok, so over 20 years, probably more like 25. But still, I remember eagerly waking up to watch the show in the morning, as well as tuning the TV to the channel it was on later in the day for it and Chip’n Dale’s Rescue Rangers.

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